Pam Padgett ... teacher
My sister, her husband, her daughter, and her young grandson plan to come to
Colorado Springs the first week of July for a vacation. Although they are not
going to stay at my house, I had planned to meet them for dinner or to go to a
museum. Joan has been concerned about this plan since my niece is very blatantly committing fornication. Joan was concerned that spending time with
this niece, acting like everything is fine, would be very difficult for me. As
we spoke today, I started seeing that this was exactly correct, that this
actually troubled me more than I wanted to admit to myself, and getting with them was not
something I wanted to do. I just wrote the following letter to my sister
...
Pat,
I thought I would be able to meet for dinner or maybe
go to a museum with you, Al, Allison and Trip (child) when you come the first week of
July. But I see now that's not going to work.
The way Allison has chosen to live at this time … living
and having a child with a man she isn't married to … fornication … is very troubling to me.
It sounds like everyone else in our family, including Dad and Mom, are approving
this, but I just can't. I would be a hypocrite to spend time with Allison,
acting like everything is "ok", when I know the way she's living is so
shameful. Yet she apparently is not at all ashamed ... she is very openly
living this way, as if there is no problem. You have not expressed any shame
of what she is doing either.
So far, I haven't heard of anyone in our
family (except me) who has spoken up to say fornication is wrong. Yet it is
wrong. And it affects not only Allison, but Trip (child) and everyone else who sees
what she is doing, while acting as though it is an acceptable way to live.
What a shock it will be to her to eventually find out that this is not accepted by God, the only
one who's judgment matters in the end. Fornicators are specifically mentioned
in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 of those who will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Perhaps by seeing one person who doesn't want
to be around her because of this, you and she will start to understand the
shamefulness and seriousness of fornication. I hope so since I care about you
both very much. (If I didn’t care, this would not be so troubling to me.)
At any rate, I just
can't get together with you all while you're here, as we had planned when last
we talked. I’m sure you’ll share this with Al, and I hope you will also share
it with Allison and not try to "protect" her from these things. ( I don’t have
her address to send to her directly.) I plan to send a copy of this to Dad and Mom
as well. Love,
Pam
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(Comments by Joan Boney ... I sent following to Pam concerning her sister ... "Pat has been flaunting sin and trying to lead you in a way of sin as long as
I have heard of her."... Pam acknowledged this was true although she said she hadn't thought of this before. I had been praying for several days for God to get Pam free from all this, but I didn't realize she was going to get free by speaking this truth to her sister! I pictured Pam leaving town the week they came or by them cancelling their trip.)
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